Ten Uttarakhand clusters to have ‘smart villages’

The names of the clusters will be sent to the Government of India on January 10, following which each cluster will be given a minimum of Rs 35 lakh for development in the first stageShivani Azad | TNN | January 01, 2016, 08:48 IST

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand department of rural development has selected ten clusters where rural areas will be turned into ‘smart villages’ under the Union government’s Rurban Mission.

The clusters include Dehradun, Rishikesh, Vikasnagar, Srinagar, Haridwar, Laksar, Roorkee, Narendranagar, Kicha and Khatima. A village will be chosen from each cluster to be a ‘smart village’.

These clusters have shown significant growth in seven factors: enrolment of girls in higher secondary education, decadal growth of rural population, non-farm workforce participation, rise in land value, good governance, participation in swachh bharat mission and PM jan dhan yojana in the last few years.

The names of the clusters will be sent to the Government of India on January 10, following which each cluster will be given a minimum of Rs 35 lakh for development in the first stage. Earlier this month, a team of senior officials from Uttarakhand was sent to Tripura wherein officials from the north-eastern and Himalayan states presented a blueprint of their respective ‘smart villages’.

Speaking on the project, Harak Singh Rawat, chief development officer, Pauri, said, “It is an ambitious plan to transform rural areas to economically, socially and physically sustainable spaces. Under Rurban mission we will select one village which has a fast growing economy and good scope of development of people in its periphery. The mission will aim at developing rural growth clusters which have latent potential for growth.”

Environmental activists in Uttarakhand say that without knowing the actual plan of action no transformation of rural areas should be allowed.

“If they are planning to transform our green fields into smart villages by erecting concrete jungles then for sure we are not in sync with any such plan of the government. We hope consent from people is taken before they start executing the project,” said Anil Joshi, noted environmentalist from Uttarakhand.

It is noteworthy that Uttarakhand has seen massive protests in the last two months against the plan to acquire 2,000 acre land of tea gardens in Doon for a smart city.

GOI has plans to implement its Rurban mission across 300 clusters in India and an amount worth Rs 5,142 crore has already been earmarked for it. The Rurban Mission is continuation of the smart city programme but in rural areas to boost the economy and living standards while curbing migration.